Welcome to the U.S. Commercial Service Israel

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro called on Israeli companies to join him and 12 other Israeli investors, who have already signed up to participate in the SelectUSA Summit 2015. Ambassador Shapiro will the lead a delegation of 12 Israeli companies from a variety of business sectors to the Summit, aimed at opening the U.S. market for foreign investment by showcasing the United States as the world’s premier business location and to provide easy access to federal programs and services related to business investment. The summit will take place outside Washington DC March 23-24. At the Summit, the Israeli delegation members, along with investors from 72 countries, will hold one-on-one meetings with State Economic Development Organizations to talk about each State’s commercial environment, developing markets and State incentives. The summit will hold moderated panels presenting the latest information on all aspects of investment in the U.S. Ambassador Shapiro praised this unique opportunity, and urged more Israeli companies to sign up for the delegation: “This summit is a chance for some great Israeli companies to find their market in the United States, grow their business, and expand trade between the U.S. and Israel. I strongly encourage more Israeli companies to join me on this delegation and take advantage of this unique opportunity. Israeli investors have contributed significantly to the American economy, contributing to make the U.S. the most attractive destination for investment.”

On January 12, 2015 CS Israel Yael Torres visited the Sorek desalination plant, located about 15km south of Tel Aviv. The plant has a seawater treatment capacity of 624,000m³/day, which makes it the world's largest seawater desalination plant. The facility caters for about 20% of Israel’s domestic water consumption. The plant's major stakeholder is the Israeli based technology company –IDE. The U.S. based Protec Arisawa (“Protec”) and Dow Water & Process Solutions (“Dow”) supplied the pressure vessels and reverse osmosis membranes for the project. IDE is also the contractor and plant operator of the Carlsbad, California seawater desalination project, infusing $350 million into the South California economy and supporting an estimated 2,500 jobs in the desalination, engineering, construction and other services industries. Based on an Israeli water treatment technology, financing for the Carlsbad Seawater Desalination Project brings $734 million in tax-exempt bond financing to build the nation’s largest seawater desalination plant and a related 10-mile pipeline.

Webinar: Selling Cosmetics in Israel, February 18, 2015, 11:30AM EST

The U.S. – Israel Free Trade Agreement became effective in 1985. It was the first free trade agreement signed by the U.S. with another country. The agreement eliminated duties on manufactured goods by January 1, 1995.

Overall trade increased from $3.5 billion in 1985 to $26.5 billion in 2005, an increase of 657%.

U.S. exports to Israel grew from $2.58 billion in 1985 to $9.7 billion in 2005, a gain of 288%.

In 1985, Israel was the 30th largest trading partner of the U.S., but by 2005 it ranked 18th.

Featured Speakers:
Yael Torres Commercial Specialist, U.S. Commercial Service, Tel Aviv, Israel
Rinat Bachar Director / Cosmetic Division, Israeli Ministry of Health
The cost of this event is $75. Register now or call 800-334-2623 for more information. Register for this Event!

The U.S. Commercial Service in Israel, Jordan, West Bank and Cyprus in collaboration with Ustudy Global LLC., is organizing the second Eastern Mediterranean Education Recruiting Mission, March 2-7, 2015, with optional stops in Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Amman. This is a great opportunity for you to reach out to quality students in these three untapped markets.
Click on the link for more details
For more information, please contact Commercial Specialist, Alan Wielunski – alan.wielunski@trade.gov

SelectUSA Investment Summit 2015 – Registration is open!

We’re thrilled to announce that Registration is open for the second SelectUSA Investment Summit in the Washington, D.C. area on March 23-24, 2015!
If you run a business and are considering opening or expanding operations in the United States, the SelectUSA Summit will help you find the answers you need more efficiently, saving you time and money. You’ll discover more about how, where and why to invest in the United States.
לחץ כאן לעברית

WEBINAR on Healthcare Opportunities in Egypt, Jordan, Israel & the West Bank

Join representatives from the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC) and the Bi-Lateral US Arab Chamber of Commerce on January 21, 2015 at 11:00AM Eastern to learn about the healthcare market in Egypt, Jordan, Israel & the West Bank. U.S. Embassy-based representatives will discuss plans for expansion and upgrading of healthcare systems that are needed to meet the growing demand of the fast-growing population in Egypt and Jordan. Companies will also learn about Israel’s particularly technologically advanced healthcare setting, with opportunities in both the public and private sectors. For companies interested in exploring the region first-hand, we will provide information about the USDOC May 2015 Business Development Trade Mission.

AmCham Israel Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by Ambassador Shapiro

CS Israel and the Israel America Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) arranged for Ambassador Shapiro, in his capacity as Honorary Chairman of AmCham, to host a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at his residence. The purpose of the dinner was to recognize AmCham’s Diamond, Platinum and Gold members for their support and investment in the Chamber and its activities over the past year. Approximately 70 guests attended, including representativies of companies such as Cisco, Google, Strauss, United Airlines, Amex, UPS, Abbott, Salesforce, Oracle, Deloitte, and Teva.​

Gov. Bryant of Mississippi leads Trade & Investment Mission to Israel

Gov of Mississippi Phil Bryant led a 15-person defense-focused trade delegation to Israel, met with senior Israeli government officials and addressed Israel’s main Home Land Security (HLS) conference. The Governor’s trade delegation included officials from 9 Mississippi companies, among them General Atomics, Raytheon and Huntington Ingalls.
Gov. Bryant was also focused on promoting inward investment. Mississippi already has two major Israeli investments: Stark Aerospace, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI), Israel's largest industrial exporter (with two facilities in Mississippi), and Emilia Cosmetics (previously known as Zohar Cosmetics), one of the largest manufacturers of Private Label/Contract Manufacturing health and beauty products in the world. CS Israel actively supported Mississippi’s contracted State representative, EDI Atid Ltd., in organizing the trade mission and a Mississippi Inward Investment Seminar (SelectUSA), where Gov. Bryant and CS Israel SCO Maria Andrews addressed an audience of 50 potential Israeli investors.

Quarterly Amcham Israel Industrial Roundtable with AMB Shapiro

On Oct. 27, 2014 - IBM Israel HQ Petach Tikva: CS Israel and AmCham Israel organized the second in a planned series of quarterly AmCham industrial Roundtable meetings, in this session focused on the ICT sector. U.S. Ambassador Daniel Shapiro chaired the Roundtable, which included 14 Chairmen and Senior Executives of American and Israeli ICT companies operating in Israel: IBM (hosting the event), Applied Materials, Broadcom, Beamr, eBay, Google, Korn Ferry, Mellanox Technologies, Microsoft, Motorola Solutions, PayPal, SalesForce, SanDisk, and Sequoia. The participants shared market insights, discussed current U.S.-Israel trade topics concerning their companies and identified common issues that can addressed in collaboration with the Embassy and the Chamber.

The Univ of Arizona delegation was in Israel seeking research partners and client companies interested in taking advantage of their Tech Parks facilities in Tucson, where they offer world-class business incubation facilities, R&D collaboration at the university, connection to North American and world markets, and manufacturing facilities in cooperation with a NAFTA regional partner from the State of Sonora, Mexico.
CS Israel first assisted the Arizona Tech Parks during their initial visit to Israel in October 2013, where we were able to identify and connect them with two potential Israeli clients. During their most recent visit to Israel, with a delegation of Tech Parks partners from the Univ of Arizona and the State of Sonora, they were spending a full week meeting potential partners, collaborators and clients to present their "Global Advantage" program.

This month, SelectUSA’s Deputy Executive Director Aaron Brickman arrived in Israel for a two-day outreach program, filled with events and meetings with industry associations, chambers of commerce and companies. Mr. Brickman spoke at multiple investment-focused round tables about the U.S. investment climate and SelectUSA. He was also key speaker at a Seminar organized by CS Israel in partnership with IVC Research Center where he gave a captivating well-received presentation to an audience of over 200 Israeli technology companies looking to expand their businesses into the U.S. market. The Seminar, which was a great success, addressed issues such as legal, tax, visa, financing and other aspects of starting a business in the U.S. Mr. Brickman continued his outreach by meeting U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro and multiplier organizations and visiting individual companies. The visit ended with an exclusive interview with one of Israel’s leading economic publications, "The Marker". #SelectUSAIsrael

Sr. Commercial Specialist Alan Wielunski attended the American Public Transportation Association Conference & Expo (APTA) in Houston, October 12-15, 2014, which is the world's largest gathering of public transportation decision-makers with over 15,000 participants. At the show, Wielunski promoted the $27 billion NTA-Tel Aviv Metropolitan light rail project to US companies in advance of the NTA leadership's November fact-finding tour of the US organized by CS Israel and APTA. The tour will include meetings with mass transit officials in Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and New York and top engineering consulting service companies that Wielunski met at APTA. This is the first such tour of its kind and of great importance in advancing participation of US companies in upcoming multi-billion dollar tenders.

Global City Teams Challenge

The Global City Teams Challenge seeks to foster the spread of “smart cities” that take advantage of Internet of Things and Cyber Physical Systems technologies, to better manage resources and improve quality of life.

On September 10, CS Israel, West Bank and Jordan education specialists, in collaboration with the Ustudy agency, organized an information webinar for over 30 school representatives who were interested in learning about recruiting strategies and opportunities in the three markets, and specifically, the 2015 Eastern Mediterranean Education Recruiting Tour, which will now include our partner Posit in Cyprus. Also provided, was information about the student visa process by Embassy Tel Aviv Consular Officer, Jason Seymour and Ms. Sana Itayim from AMIDEAST.

Showcasing SelectUSA at the Embassy’s July 4th Celebration

July 3, 2014 - At the U.S. Embassy's gala Independence Day celebration, held at the Ambassador's residence and attended by both the President and the Prime Minister of Israel, CS Israel staff manned a SelectUSA display, engaging in conversations about SelectUSA and handing out SelectUSA brochures to interested individuals and companies among the over 2000 guests.

Georgia Gov Nathan Deal and a delegation visit Israel

On June 24, CS Israel met Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and a delegation of Georgia business and government leaders. the GA group of 30 participants, included the GA Comm of Econ Dev, Comm of Health, Attorney General, GA University System, Coca Cola, Georgia Power, Gulfstream and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. SCO Andrews presented an economic and commercial overview to the group. She highlighted the role of CS Israel in promoting FDI and supporting U.S. exports. There are already 45 Israeli companies that operate in GA and support over 2,000 jobs.

CS Israel attended PowerGen in Cologne, Germany

CS Israel’s Commercial Specialist Irit van der Veur attended PowerGen in Cologne, Germany. She was one of 10 USCS Specialists from European countries and the USA. Almost 50 US companies exhibited at the show, 8 of which were located in the U.S. pavilion. During her stay at PowerGen, Irit counseled 26 U.S. companies on the Israeli market for energy systems.

MA Gov Patrick led the biggest trade mission to Israel ever

The focus on “innovation”. The delegation of 120 included state gov’t officials and business and academic leaders. Massachusetts and Israel share similar technological strengths and the mission provided an opportunity for the Gov and the MA delegation to strengthen these ties and develop new relationships to increase trade, foreign direct investment (SelectUSA) and R&D collaboration.

CS Israel organizes the first International Franchise Conference and Catalog Show

In cooperation with the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, the Israel Franchise Institute and Franchise Business Broker (FBB) - educate the Israeli audience on how to work with an int’l franchise and highlighted the benefits of running one. CS Israel Commercial Specialist Christina Azar also organized a catalog show of 11 American franchise companies seeking Israeli investors/franchisees.

SelectUSA is the single point of contact at the national level for international and domestic companies looking to invest in the United States. SelectUSA works one-on-one with investors to offer helpful tools, data and other information; identify relevant federal programs; demystify federal rules and regulations; and link businesses with partners or resources at the state or local levels.